The London Guantánamo has been campaigning since 2006 for the return of all British residents from the Guantánamo Bay prison camp, the release of all prisoners, the closure of this prison and other similar prisons and an end to the practice of extraordinary rendition. Human rights for all.

Thursday, November 30, 2017

NEWS:Guantánamo BayAs reported in last month’s newsletter, chaos
continued this month in the military tribunal pre-trial hearing of Abd
Al-Nashiri, who is facing the death penalty for his alleged involvement in
attacks on US navy vessels in the Gulf of Aden in 2000. Al-Nashiri’s lawyers
who refused to attend court and even travel to Guantánamo in the final week of
October also refused to attend a hearing on 2 November at which they were
ordered to appear. The issue revolves around a secret ethical problem
concerning client-lawyer confidentiality. The judge in the case Air Force Col.
Vance Spath has stated that only he has the authority to dismiss the lawyers
who quit with the permission of the chief defence counsel for military
commissions, Brig. Gen. John Baker. Instead, the three lawyers have taken legal
measures in their states to avoid arrest.http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/guantanamo/article182424296.htmlThe following day, 3 November, Brig. Gen.
John Baker who had been confined to his quarters at Guantánamo on 31 October
after being sentenced to 21 days’ confinement after being found in contempt of
court in this dispute – when he refused to order the other lawyers to return to
the case – was released by the Pentagon. His has been the only detention at
Guantánamo under President Trump. The day before lawyers filed a petition in
the federal courts in the US challenging his detention. The sentence was not
removed but deferred while the punishment was reviewed. A fine imposed on him
has also been frozen.https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/03/john-baker-released-guantanamo-dispute-244523

Nonetheless, the hearing continued on 3
November. The judge said that he chose issues that did not require a capital
defender – necessary in a death penalty case and a role played by death penalty
lawyer Richard Kammen until he resigned – while he postponed dealing with what
would happen to the three lawyers who had left the case. With just one military
lawyer representing Al-Nashiri, the defence did not question witnesses and the
pre-trial hearing has focused more on the authority of the judge and the court
than issues related to the case.http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/guantanamo/article182792076.htmlOne of the witnesses in the case, law
professor Ellen Yaroshefksy also asked the courts to provide her with protection
against being ordered to testify by video link in the case. Yaroshefksy
provided the advice that led to the lawyers quitting the case, although she
does not have access to confidential material. The judge ordered her to appear
via video link to answer questions about an ethics opinion she gave the lawyers
in October that they used as a basis for their resignation. Yaroshefksy’s
lawyers argued “that the Guantánamo war court “lacks any authority to detain or
seize United States citizens.”” http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/guantanamo/article183985656.htmlHowever, she was unsuccessful http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/guantanamo/article184923993.htmland was then ordered to testify on 17 November. At
this hearing, at the end of three weeks of pre-trial hearings in his case
dominated by other issues, Judge Spath asked Al-Nashiri if he wanted his
long-serving defence team to return to court. Concerning Richard Kammen, “I
believe he chose to leave this case, and I support him,” was Al-Nashiri’s
response, even though the decision does not ultimately lie with him. “All the
attorneys are free to have their own opinion, and I support them. In other
words, I cannot force anyone to come here,” Nashiri told the judge.As a solution to the deadlock, the judge
ordered another lawyer Brian Mizer to act as “learned counsel in this case”,
the death-penalty defender. Mizer has worked on other military tribunal cases
but it is unclear that he fits the criteria for the role.http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/guantanamo/article185333788.htmlOn 22 November, the Pentagon
completed its review of Baker’s case and upheld the contempt charge. His
confinement was not ordered again however, and the court was also asked to
ensure that measures are taken to protect client-lawyer confidentiality, which
appears to be at the heart of this dispute. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/military/pentagon-upholds-contempt-ruling-against-top-guantanamo-lawyer-n823496

With the assistance of one of
Omar Khadr’s Canadian lawyers Nate Whitling, former Algerian prisoner Djamel
Ameziane is suing the Canadian government for CAN$50 million for its alleged
involvement in his abuse by the US. He claims that the Canadian government
co-operated with the US while he was held at Guantánamo. He was never charged
or tried at Guantánamo. In 1995, Ameziane sought asylum
in Canada and lived in Montreal. The US alleges that he worshipped at the same
mosques as members of Al Qaeda. Canadian intelligence gathered intelligence on
him and the Montreal Muslim community while he was a resident there. His asylum
claim was rejected and he went to Afghanistan instead of going back to Algeria.
Ameziane claims that part of the intelligence used by the US to decide to
detain him at Guantánamo was supplied by Canadian intelligence. Ameziane also alleges that he was
interrogated many times by Canadian officials at Guantánamo who were aware of
the abuse of prisoners and that he was being held without charge and without a
lawyer.Nate Whitling has said that
Ameziane’s case “calls for a full-scale public inquiry into Canada’s alleged
role in the treatment of innocent military detainees held in Guantanamo Bay.”http://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/edmonton-lawyer-for-guantanamo-bay-detainee-files-suit-against-federal-government

On 7 November, lawyers from Reprieve
representing hunger-striking Pakistani prisoner Ahmed Ghulam Rabbani, 47,
brought a case before the federal courts claiming that he is being starved at
Guantánamo following a new military policy since September not to force feed
hunger striking prisoners until they are close to death. Five prisoners are
reported to be affected. The US military claimed in response that he is
actually eating and does not need to be force fed any longer. His lawyers are
seeking an external medical assessment of his condition and to have his medical
records released.http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/guantanamo/article183404621.html

The mobile MRI unit leased by the
Pentagon for 4 months at Guantánamo to scan Abd Al-Nashiri’s brain as part of
his death penalty trial is broken. It
does not work and requires maintenance meaning that it effectively cannot be
used. According to the US military, it was delivered and installed correctly
but requires liquid helium which is no longer available, and no one appears to
know why. A judge ordered a scan of Al-Nashiri’s brain and for an MRI machine
to be brought to Guantánamo for this purpose but it is not clear that this will
take place. The lease on the equipment is until February.http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/guantanamo/article184624408.html

Extraordinary renditionOn 3 November, the chief
prosecutor of the International Criminal Court announced that she will seek to
start an official investigation into potential war crimes during the war in
Afghanistan. Although the specific parties to be investigated were not named,
the investigation is likely to cover possible war crimes by the Taleban,
associated groups and the US military and the CIA. As Afghanistan only signed
up to the court’s statute in 2003, crimes committed after that period will only
be considered. Bensouda said that if authorised, her office will investigate
"in an independent, impartial and objective way, crimes within the court's
jurisdiction allegedly committed by any party to the armed conflict". The
preliminary investigation has been ongoing for over a decade and this case
would for the first time the court looks beyond international war crimes in
Africa. An earlier report by her office stated that there was a “reasonable
basis to believe” at least 61 prisoners had been tortured by the US military
and the CIA. The crimes largely relate to 2003-4 and will probably include
secret CIA-run prisons in the country but will not include other allies outside
of the USA. The USA, which is not a party to the court, has tried to frustrate
investigations throughout the process. http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/11/icc-prosecutor-seek-afghanistan-war-crimes-probe-171103143955107.html

LGC Activities:The November Shut Guantánamo! monthly
demonstration was on 2 November. Our next monthly demonstration is on Thursday
7 December outside the US Embassy, Grosvenor Square, W1A, from 12-1pm and
opposite Marble Arch, outside Speaker’s Corner, Hyde Park from 1.15-2.15pm: https://www.facebook.com/events/637658706623438/
It is our last demo on 2017 and probably one of the last few at this site before
the US Embassy relocated to Nine Elms. Please do join us!

Take action!

We hold a regular monthly demonstration calling for the closure of Guantánamo Bay. Our March demonstration is on Thursday 8 March at 12-2pm outside the US Embassy, 33 Nine Elms Ln, London SW11 7US: https://www.facebook.com/events/975903689224552/

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About Me

The London Guantánamo Campaign has been campaigning since 2006 for the return of all British residents from the Guantánamo Bay prison camp, the release of all prisoners, the closure of this prison and other similar prisons and an end to the practice of extraordinary rendition. Also on Facebook and Twitter.